


Fine line

by PDTS_Shady



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2015-02-20
Packaged: 2018-03-13 21:02:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3396206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PDTS_Shady/pseuds/PDTS_Shady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Annabeth left Percy. And Percy is devastated could Nico do something to help?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fine line

Percy POV  
" I love you Percy, I always will. I sweat on the river Styx I will come back when I can." Annabeth gave me a sad smile as thunder crashed across the sky, sealing her oath. She had tears streaming down her face as she walked away into the morning sun. Away from Camp Half Blood, away from the Gods, from friends, and away from ... Me.  
Watching her walked down Half-Blood hill alone, it felt as though I had a hole drilled in to my heart. I could never have imagined I'd see the day that Annabeth needed to go where I could not follow her. I had followed her to the underworld, into the labyrinth, even into the Tartarus itself. I had come to believe that there was nothing that would ever separate us again. I should have known better.  
Aphrodite had promised to make my love life interesting. I guess surviving countless quests, two wars, and caused a rift that was just too deep  
Flashback  
Nico, Rayna, and Coach Hedge had arrived with the Athena Parthenos in time to stop the camps from destroying each other and Rayna had managed to get the Romans to back down.  
They were just in time too. While we were busy fighting the giants in Greece, Gaia had sent an army of monsters to attack Camp Half-Blood. The two armies combined their strength and destroyed the invading forces.  
But the death toll had been high, very high. The loss of Malcolm and Rayna had left both camps reeling. But the death of Leo left the biggest hole in the heart of the seven of us.  
Leo had given his life to stop Gaia from rising. He had used every last particle of his strength in order to bring Porphyrion to his knees. Hades had delivered the killing blow to the giant king but not before Porphyrion had gotten his revenge. His spear had pierced through the chest of the son of Hephaestus.  
With Leo's final breath he requested that the remaining seven free Calypso. He entrusted his astrolabe to Jason.  
Chiron had already authorized the quest, but had requested that we wait. He needed our help rebuilding the camps.  
The younger demigods looked up to us. And with so many dead, they needed all the help they could get. And so Piper, Jason, Hazel, Frank, and I agreed to wait a little longer. I hadn't noticed at the time that Annabeth had remained silent.  
I felt restless. I had abandoned Calypso once; I didn't like making her wit longer than she already had to. When she had cursed me, I realized just how terribly I had treated her. She had saved my life and I had left her. Sure, I had asked that she be freed but I had never made sure that the gods kept their promise.  
So, I put all of my effort into rebuilding the camp. The sooner we finished the sooner could go save one of the friends I had let down. I had thought everything was going well.  
I failed to notice when Annabeth started to pull away from everyone.  
I knew that she had been more introverted since Tartarus, but I did not think to say anything. I knew that I had been doing the same thing. I tried to be open and trusted like I used to, but I had seen to much. I still woke up in a cold sweat most nights. Dreams for demigods were never good, but I would gladly trade my memories of that place for the confusing nerve racking glimpses of the future I used to see.  
We still spoke but it was different. It was casual. We stopped talking about the future, about things that matter to us. Eventually we only really spoke about how the reconstruction was going. Even then, where she once would have been going on about architecture, she was strangely quiet.  
It had been about a month after the final battle before Annabeth came to talk to me. I was in my cabin just getting ready to collapse into the bed when I heard a knock on the door.  
I opened the door to reveal the girl I love, leaning against the door jam. I looked at her and couldn't help but notice that she didn't look very good. Her blond hair was a mess but it was her eyes that caught my attention. Her beautiful gray eyes that I've always loved to much were bloodshot and filled with tears. I immediately felt more awake.  
"Hey seaweed brain," Annabeth said with a weak smile. "Can I talk to you?"  
" Of course, come on in." I stepped aside and closed the door be-hide her. She seemed nervous and unsure. Annabeth was always so strong determined in everything. She glanced at me and started pacing around the room.  
After a few minutes of watching her, waiting for her to say something, I stepped into her path and she looked up at me with broken eyes. The next thing I Knew I had wrapped her in my arms  
Silent sobs were shaking her shoulders. I sat down on my bed and pulled her in to my lap. she balled her hands in to my t-shirt, pulling strength from my presence. I held her close to me and rubbed my hands in comforting circles on her back. After a while she calmed down but she didn't pull away.  
We sat together in silence as I waited for her to find the words she needed. After a long time she finally spoke. "I'm... I'm leaving Percy, I can't stay here. I... I need to go away for a while."  
I was surprised to say the least but I knew that like everything the beautiful daughter of Athena did, she would have her reasons. She was my opposite in so many ways. Wheres as I was Impulsive and did things without thinking of the consequences, Annabeth thought through everything. It was why I would, and had, followed her through everything. "OK," She looked at me with surprise in her eyes, "where are we going?"  
She flinched and pulled away from me. I frowned in confusion as I waited for her to go on. She fiddled with her fingers, avoiding eye contact with me. "You... you don't understand Percy. I have to leave and... And I am going alone."  
I sat there, trying to figure out what she meant. We had been through hell and back together, literally. Why would she think that when she left I would not be with her? It didn't make any sense. "What do you mean Wise-Girl? Of course I will come with you. We're a team. Whatever you need to do, I will be there to help you."  
Her tears started to fall again. " Percy. I... I know that you will always be there when I need you..." I didn't like the sound of that. I reached out to hold her hand but she pulled it away before I could hold her hand. My heart started to constrict. " I need to leave, and I need you to stay here." She looked at me and I felt the air rush out of my lungs.  
"Annabeth what.... What are you talking about?"  
" I can't stay here Percy. There are too many reminders. I can't stand to be here anymore. If I don't leave soon I'm going to lose it completely. I can't deal with all of this anymore. If I'm going to heal, I need to leave this world behind for a while. I... We need a break."  
I looked into her eyes and I could see that it was true. The eyes that had always been filled with such determination and strength were broken. We had all seen so much, too much in fact. But her eyes bore the signs of one who could no longer survive with what she had seen.  
I knew in my heart that I should have seen this sooner. I had been so busy rebuilding and trying to survive the after effects of the war, I had failed to see that one I loved needed me.  
My thought must have been clear on my face. Annabeth grabbed my hand, " Percy, this is not your fault. It has nothing to do with you."  
I felt my heart break as my own tears began to fall. " Please Annabeth, don't go."  
"I...I just need to escape; I need to be away from everything. I need to go somewhere where the memories of blood and death don't haunt my every thought." She looked at me with desperation in her eyes, begging me to understand.  
I could hardly stand the pain. I had seen and done so many impossible thing, been through to much, survived so may monster attacks, but nothing had ever hurt me the way that this did. But when I looked into her eyes I knew that this was the only choice she had. I felt as though I ripped out my own heart as I nodded.  
I pulled her back to my hand and held it as tightly as I could. Tears streamed down my face as she whispered in my ear. "I promise I will come back. I love you so much."  
I struggled to find my voice. "When will you leave?"  
"I already talked to Chiron, I'm leaving tomorrow morning."  
I looked into her eyes and pulled her in for a kiss, knowing in my heart that this would be the last one.  
later that day  
"Percy?"  
I jumped and looked around. Jason and Nico stood besides me, blending in with the evening shadows. Wait... Evening? I looked at the sky and sure enough, I could see the stars. I had been standing here all day.  
"Percy," Jason called again bringing my attention back to him, "Its dinner time."  
I realized that I hadn't eaten all day. But the thought of food made my stomach turn. "I'm not hungry." I forced myself to turn from the last place I had seen her and walk away, intending to go hide in my cabin. By now the whole camp would know that Annabeth was gone. Even thinking her name caused me a flash of pain. I could not deal with all of the whispers and stares that would be sure to follow me.  
I felt a hand on my elbow and turned around, Prepared to tell Jason that I was fine, just tired. The words however, died on my lips when I saw that the arm belonged to the sum of Hades.  
I had never known Nico to willingly initiate contact with anyone before, especially me. Now that my brain was sort of functioning again I was actually surprised Nico had approached me at all. He usually avoided me like the plague. I looked from his hand to his face. Dark brown eyes locked with my own. He quickly broke eye contact and pulled his hand away as he stepped back.  
looking at the ground the entire time, Nico spoke. " You haven't eaten since yesterday," My brain randomly wondered as to how he knew that before he continued. "I know you don't want food but you need to eat something."  
Annabeth was gone and it felt as though she had taken everything good in my whole world with her; food was not of any interest to me. If it had been anyone else I would have snapped at them. However it was Nico.  
I really wanted to get to know him better. I spent endless amount of time trying to talk to the kid only to have him continually push me away. Like Calypso, I felt like I had been a very poor friend to Nico. Yet, I never seemed to be able to do right by him. I would be talking to him and it would seem as though we would be getting along and then suddenly he would be mad without any explanation. He said that he no longer blamed me for Bianca's death but I still blamed myself. I had failed to protect his sister the way I had promised I would.  
He had saved me on multiple occasions, more that anyone except maybe Annabeth. Most days I thought he hated me. Then he would do something that proved he did consider me his friend, like worry about it if I tried to skip out on dinner.  
I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. I really did not want to go to the dining pavilion but if it would make Nico happy then I would do it. "Fine, let's go."  
Nico's POV  
It was worse than I had predicted. As soon as we walked into the hall, all noise stopped. I tried to ignore the eyes that automatically turned to us. The entire camp was buzzing with the news. Everyone kept stealing glances at Percy, trying to see how he was handling Annabeth's absence.  
In the life of a demigod few things are unchanging. Annabeth and Percy's relationship was considered one of the most stable things in camp. When I had first heard about her leaving, I didn't believe it. When she left without him, the whole camp had been turned upside-down.  
We grabbed our food and waited in line for the chance to burn some to the gods.  
As we waited I looked at Percy. He was doing the best to hide his emotions but he was always one to wear his heart on his sleeve. The fire and determination that always burned in his beautiful sea-green eyes had gone out. His black hair was even messier than usual. He looked like hell. I felt my heart contract at the sight. He had always been so steady, but Annabeth's absence had definitely taken its toll.  
I had watched him for most of the day, Standing on the hill at the edge of camp. He didn't move an inch. Not when she walked away, not when she was out of sight, I believe he would have stood there till the harpies came if it wasn't for Jason pulling me with him insisting that we needed to bring Percy to dinner. Not that I resisted much. I had been quite worried about him.  
Percy usually up to the brazier, "To Hermes, please keep her safe on her travels."  
I was surprised by that. Usually we simply burnt food to our immortal parent. But I understand. Annabeth was traveling, and Hermes is the god of travelers.  
Percy walked away to sit at the Poseidon table. As the only living half-blood child of Poseidon he sat alone. I desperately wished that we were allowed to sit at different tables. Percy looked like he could use the company. I scraped food into the fire for my father and walked over to the Hades table.  
Throughout dinner I kept stealing glances at Percy. He didn't eat. He was just pushing the food around on his plate. Eventually he looked up and I made sure to catch his eye. I glared pointedly at his untouched meal and he looked down. I could practically hear his sigh from across the room and he raised a fork-full to his mouth.  
By the end of supper he had eaten about half of his small plate of dinner. He skipped out on the campfire and headed straight for his cabin. Having no interest in either singing or socializing, I chose to do the same. I didn't like that he was so uninterested in food but I did understand. Olympus knows, I know how heartbreak makes it difficult to eat sometimes.  
I blushed slightly at the thought.Percy needed me, and so I would do my best to be there for him as I always had been. I would be the friend that he needed me to be right mow.  
No one knew the whole story. But everyone knew that Annabeth had left, and only an absolute imbecile wouldn't be able to see that Percy was heartbroken. I hated to see him in pain, hated to see what Annabeth had done to him. Percy was to good, too noble; to deserve the pain he was clearly enduring.  
But I couldn't stop the little voice at the back of my head from whispering, maybe now you have a chance.  
Yes, Percy may have technically been single, but he was heartbroken. Besides, Percy never gives up on people. It's one of the things that I love that most about him, which means that I knew Percy would not forget her and move on. Besides, Heartbroken and fiercely loyal were not my biggest obstacle. One thing I knew without a doubt, Percy was strait as an arrow.


End file.
